Met Tolkien facts
While investigating facts about Met Tolkien, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Christopher Lee was the only member of the L.O.T.R. cast who personally met Tolkien. Tolkien gave him the blessing to play Gandalf but Lee's ability to play villains later convinced Peter Jackson to offer him the role of Saruman.
JRR Tolkien initially fell in love with his future wife at 16 years old. His guardian, a catholic priest ordered him to not have any contact until he was 21. He obeyed and met her under a railroad viaduct and she broke up her engagement, converted to Catholicism and married Tolkien.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 8 of the best facts about Met Tolkien I managed to collect.
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Christopher Lee read "The Lord of the Rings" once a year until his death in 2015 and had done so since the year it was published, and is the only member of the cast and crew ever to have met J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Tolkien met Edith Mary Bratt, his future wife, when he was only 16. His guardian Father Francis would not let them see each other until he was 21.
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Christopher Lee was the only person involved with the Lord of the Rings films to have actually met Tolkien
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Elias Lönnrot, who compiled the Finnish national epic Kalevala (one of Tolkien's inspirations), conducted field trips to collect oral folklore. One time, Lönnrot met a village singer able to recite 4000 lines of poetry from memory. It took 2 days to write it all down.
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In Lord of the Rings casting, Christopher Lee (Saruman) was the only one to have met Tolkien in person, so knew Peter Jackson who counted a lot on that.
